New Zealand and Taiwan

Our relationship with Taiwan

While we do not maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan, we do have a vibrant trading, economic and cultural relationship. We’re both members of APEC, the World Trade Organisation (WTO), a number of fisheries conventions and the Asian Development Bank. Taiwan is an important source of imports, tourism and investment, and an important export market for New Zealand.

As well as trade, we enjoy extensive people-to-people links. There are employment opportunities for New Zealanders in Taiwan, particularly in teaching, and the number of art and cultural exchanges is growing. Many Taiwanese have migrated to New Zealand since the 1990s, and we have a particularly strong Taiwanese population in Auckland. Tourism, education and business links have strengthened since a three-month visa waiver was introduced in November 2009.

Taiwan is our 11th-largest export market and 14th-largest source of imports. Our dairy, meat, fruit, seafood and forest products are very popular with the Taiwanese and we’re their largest supplier of dairy products.

New Zealand has an agreement on Economic Cooperation with the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu which was signed in 2013. Tariffs are being rapidly eliminated, opening up significant trading opportunities.